3) A History of Bible Based Ministries

Rehearsing What God Has Done, PDF format

Rehearsing What God Has Done:
A History of Bible Based Ministries
Shaun Willcock

“…they rehearsed all that God had done with them…” (Acts 14:27)

  Bible Based Ministries had its beginning in September 1983, although it was not known by this name then and much was to change, especially doctrinally, between 1983 and 1986.  Those first years were a time of growth, of casting off the false and laying hold on the true, and in many ways 1986 was the real beginning of basing this work upon a solid and true doctrinal foundation; but as much of what occurred then could not be understood without reference to the years which went before, and as this work officially began in 1983 even though there was so much error still to be forsaken, the commencing date is marked as September 1983.

In accordance with Acts 14:27 – “they rehearsed all that God had done with them” – this is a personal testimony, and a history of the work.  To our God belongs all the glory, for we are nothing in ourselves, and without Him we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5); and at the end of the day, when we have done what has been commanded us, we can only say, “We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Lk. 17:10). Yes, and done it very imperfectly.

Throughout these years we have experienced many trials, and endured many enemies.  But the Lord has guided and blessed us each step of the way, year by year.  It has been our great joy and undeserved privilege to serve Him in this way.  May the Lord be glorified by this recounting of His mercies and blessings.

My Conversion

  I was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia, in 1963.  Today the country which was then Rhodesia is a very different place: after a brutal revolution which lasted many years, it fell to Communist terrorist forces and became Zimbabwe, a Marxist state.  My family and I left Rhodesia in 1974, as the terrorist war was escalating, and came to South Africa.  And as a young teenager in 1978, the Lord graciously saved my soul.  Two texts which the Lord used to bring me under conviction of sin and to see and feel my need of the Lord and Saviour were Matt. 16:16 (“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”) and Jn. 11:25,26 (“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.  Believest thou this?”).

I was converted to Christ while a member of the Methodist institution (in spite of, and not because of, Methodism itself).  Arminian (Wesleyan) Methodism had never been thoroughly sound, doctrinally; but in the 1970s it was moving relentlessly into ever more error.  Ecumenism was a growing evil; liberalism was spreading; worldliness was prevalent in the majority of the members; political radicalism was increasing, with support being given to southern African Communist terrorist organisations; women were being “ordained” as ministers; and the influence of the Charismatic movement was really beginning to be felt.  Many within the denomination understood little or nothing of these developments at the time, and certainly I, a youngster, was ignorant of most of it, although even as a new Christian I became very disturbed by the worldliness of most of the members.

From Methodism to Pentecostalism

  I received no sound teaching from the Methodist preachers I heard.  But the Lord was teaching me through His Word, and in 1980, during my final year of high school, I became convicted that the Lord was calling me into the ministry of His Word.  But there was much false doctrine which had to be forsaken, and true doctrine which had to be embraced; and this process was to take a number of years.  At the time all I knew was Methodism, and the local Methodist leadership was eager to enrol me in a course of theological training for the Methodist ministry.  I preached my first sermon just before my 17th birthday (its title was “Persecution”).  Soon afterwards I started to preach regularly in the local Methodist church, and was also put in charge of their youth meetings.  I began studying for what were called the Methodist “lay preaching” exams.  But in the providence of God I never entered the Methodist ministry.  For around the same time, through a series of events which were compounded by an utter lack of sound teaching, I was introduced to the Pentecostal movement.  A case of out of the frying pan into the fire!

In my ignorance, Pentecostalism appeared to be biblical, as it has to multitudes of other young people.  It seemed to follow the Bible, to be “alive”, to preach (as it boasted) “the full Gospel”.  How wrong I was!  It appeared to fill the void which I felt within Methodism.  I was a young man converted to Christ, trying to fit into a false religious institution.  It could not be done.  I was a fish out of water.  Going from Methodism to Pentecostalism, I went from one ecclesiastical error to another.

Encouraged by a Pentecostal man I looked up to at the time, I dropped the Methodist theological studies and enrolled in the theological college of the Assemblies of God, at the time considered to be one of the more “conservative” Pentecostal denominations (although “conservative” is a relative term when it comes to Pentecostalism).

My Baptism

Around this time I came to see from the Bible that my “baptism” by a Presbyterian minister, when I was an infant in my mother’s arms, was not biblical; and this led to me being baptized as a believer, by full immersion, in a small stream.  I thank the Lord that the important issue of baptism was settled for me at this young age.

A Troubled Pentecostal

  I graduated from the Assemblies of God college, and became associated with a church belonging to a small Pentecostal denomination called the South African Evangelistic Mission.  In time I became the assistant pastor.  But through it all I was studying the Word of God for myself – and keeping my eyes open.  And step by step the Lord in His goodness began to lead me to see the errors of both Arminianism and Pentecostalism.

From the outset there were things which troubled me, and I was often uneasy, even appalled and disgusted by much of what I saw.  I saw people supposedly “speaking in tongues”, after being taught to do so by whoever was praying for them, stuttering out unintelligible sounds – people who revealed by their worldly conduct that they were not truly converted to Christ.  I saw people falling down in frenzied excitement, supposedly “slain in the Spirit”, moaning and writhing, while the meetings degenerated into a cacophony of noise, shouting, crying, bodies lying on the floor.   I actually walked out of some Pentecostal meetings.

It troubled me very much that Pentecostals were so worldly.  I thought they would be different from Methodists, but they were not.  Thinking that in Pentecostalism I would find separation from the world, everywhere I looked I saw the love of the world and conformity to it.  I longed for holiness, but those around me longed for signs and wonders, thrills and entertainment.  Little did I know it at the time, but the reason for this was simple: the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement is a worldly system, full of worldly people who have no desire for holiness because they are strangers to the thrice-holy God, but are there for all sorts of other reasons: the “tongues”, the “miracles”, the singing, the entertainment, the liveliness.  I was longing for fellowship with people who loved the Lord and desired to live separated lives unto Him, for His glory; but no matter which way I turned I could find none.  However, the Lord did not leave me in my ignorance.  He delivered me from it all in His perfect time.

Discovering the King James Version

  One of those defining moments in life occurred when, through a series of providential events, my eyes were opened to the superiority of the King James Version of the Bible, and the Hebrew and Greek texts underlying it, over all other translations and texts.  To know that the Lord had preserved His Word in its entirety, and that there was an English version which was thoroughly accurate and reliable, was one of the most exciting periods in my life.  I eagerly acquired all the materials I could on the superiority of the King James Version, and on the many and glaring errors of the modern versions.  It was as if a bright light had been switched on inside my heart and head, and I have loved, preached from, and defended the King James Version as God’s providentially preserved Word in English ever since.

Attempts at Missionary Work

  By this time I had come to understand much about the errors of Roman Catholicism and of ecumenism. Always deeply interested in missionary work, while still studying I learned about a mission organisation called Operation Mobilisation, which owned two “missionary ships” and took in young people from all over the world to do what they called mission work for a year or two.  I signed up, and was all set to fly to Belgium when, working through the required course of preparatory study, I learned that they were ecumenical, distributed Roman Catholic Bibles in Roman Catholic countries, and believed that many Roman Catholics were Christians.  I wrote to a leader of the South African branch and pulled out.

For a time I tried to begin mission work among the Zulu people.  This was not easy in those days in South Africa: I had to obtain special permission from a magistrate to enter areas administered by the Zulu tribal authorities; and permission had to be obtained from the local Zulu elders as well.  I obtained the necessary permission from the magistrate, and sought the permission of the elders; but the Lord closed that door and opened another.

Early Beginnings of a Work Exposing Roman Catholicism

  As I studied the Word of God, Church history, etc., coming to understand the central place of the Roman Catholic system in Bible prophecy, and the utterly lost spiritual state of the millions of Roman Catholic people, I became burdened to expose this “Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth” and her harlot “daughters” (Rev. 17:5).  In September 1983 I established a ministry for the purpose of evangelising the Roman Catholic people and exposing Romanism.  It started in my home with nothing more than a typewriter.  I began issuing a small newsletter and writing some tracts.  As I recall, the first issue of the newsletter went out to less than ten people!

In the same month I went on a brief “missionary trip” up the north coast of the province of Natal, sleeping in a tent and attempting to visit Romish priests.  I managed to speak with a couple of them and to leave tracts at various places, and I continued to correspond with them, and a few others, for some time afterwards; but unfortunately I was still Arminian and Pentecostal, and although I was sincere and in great earnestness, the message I was proclaiming was not biblically sound.

In 1984 I again travelled the same route, this time taking two friends with me.  One of them was the pastor of the Pentecostal church I attended.  We slept in the back of my pick-up truck as we sought to visit priests, monks and nuns.  We spoke with a few of them, including one who appeared to be drunk and who chased us away, shouting, “Go to those who don’t have Christ!”  But again, our message was very deficient.

In early 1985 the name, Bible Based Ministries, was given to the work I was seeking to do.  I wrote in the newsletter at the time, “The work of God must be biblically-based and Christ-centred.”  This was my great desire, even though at the time my own doctrinal position, in some very important points, was not biblically-based at all.  But the Lord was working in me, and I would soon see and forsake the unbiblical doctrines and practices to which I still held.

To the United States to Meet Alberto Rivera

  In 1985 I travelled to the United States, to Los Angeles, California, to meet with Alberto Rivera, a man who claimed to be an ex-Jesuit priest converted to Christ.  This trip would have far-reaching consequences, but for reasons quite different from what I at first imagined.

Some years before, I had been given some of the famous comic books published by Chick Publications in California.  These purported to be based on the true-life story of a man named Alberto Rivera, who claimed to have been a Roman Catholic Jesuit priest before being supposedly converted to Christ.  The first book in the series, Alberto, was causing a huge stir in many parts of the world.  There was much in the comic books that was historically accurate (little did I know it at the time, but there was also much that was very inaccurate), and it is an historical fact that the Jesuits have done, and are doing, many of the things described by Rivera in the books.  His story appeared genuine, and I determined to try to meet him if possible.  I wrote to him and was invited to spend time with him and his co-workers in California.  I ended up spending three weeks there.

There was little during this time to arouse my suspicions, and the few things that did concern me somewhat I put down to cultural differences, etc.  I was invited to become a representative for Rivera’s ministry.  My ministry would remain separate from his, but I would be in charge of all his correspondence from Africa, Asia, and Australasia.  This continued for a few years, until it became clear that he was not at all what he claimed to be.

Meeting Rivera, and then working in association with him for a while, was truly providential.  Not because he was a man of God, for he was not, as became evident in due course, but for at least three other reasons:

First, in God’s providence it was through a conversation I had with him that I really began to question my Arminian doctrines as never before, and to carefully examine the doctrines of sovereign grace.

Second, by becoming his representative for Africa and Asia, a vast amount of correspondence which he had received from countries throughout these continents was passed on to me.  Not only did this mean I was able to contact these people and introduce them to my own ministry, but in addition, when the truth about Rivera became known it meant that we were able to warn many people about him and his “ministry”.

And thirdly, through my association in those years with Rivera, the Lord brought me into contact (in 1988) with Donald Blanton, a brother in Christ who would not only become my close friend, but in time the U.S. distributor for Bible Based Ministries’ books, and the worldwide distributor for our recorded messages. Thus Bible Based Ministries began to reach people in many other parts of the world.

Selling Books

  But that was still in the future.  Meanwhile the work continued to expand.  In 1985 I started to sell books on the subject of Roman Catholicism.  From the outset, books and other materials were supplied free of charge, as able, to those who could not afford to purchase them, a policy from which we have never deviated through the years.

A Demon-Possessed Roman Catholic Woman

  In early 1986 I was called in to assist in the exorcism of a demon-possessed woman.  The demon gave its name as “Mary”!  Although the woman was a Hindu, she had attended a Roman Catholic convent school in her youth; and speaking through her mouth, the demon said that while there she had become possessed when a priest of Rome had scattered “holy water” at a school assembly.  As soon as those of us who had gathered to try to help her began to pray, she went into a trance-like state and assumed the very posture of the idols of the Romish “Mary”, holding the supposed “infant Jesus”.  She fell on the floor in a swoon, making us think the demon had come out of her; but it was still there.  This poor woman twisted, turned, grimaced, and displayed great strength. Although she was short, she placed her fist in the stomach of one man present and pushed him around the room.  Truly Roman Catholicism, the mystical “Babylon”, is Satan’s very seat, and powerful demonic forces are at work in it.  The history of Popery through the centuries is full of witchcraft, black magic, etc.  It is no different today.

I relate this incident to show that evil spirits are very much at work in the Papal system, especially in view of the fact that there are some sovereign grace believers who think that demon possession does not occur today.  Far too many have fallen for the explanations of modern psychology, a false science, for such things, instead of believing the simple truth of God’s Word.  Perhaps they would be more inclined to believe it if they lived, as we do, in Africa.  It occurs in sophisticated Europe and North America as well, but is often less spectacular in its manifestations there.  This is why I have related this incident; but sadly I cannot relate that she was delivered, the reason being that as Pentecostals our ignorance of biblical truth on this matter meant we were unable to help her.  Pentecostals love to think that they have power over unclean spirits, but they are very mistaken.  We did what Pentecostals the world over do in such cases: we prayed, we “took authority over the spirit in the Name of Jesus” (or so we thought!), we commanded it to leave.  But all to no avail.  Little did we understand that the miraculous gift of casting out devils was given to the apostles for the purpose of authenticating their ministry before the Scriptures were complete, and that this gift is no longer given today.  How differently I would have handled that sad situation if I had known then what I know now.  The Christian is simply to preach the Gospel to the lost, and those ordained to eternal life will be saved (Acts 13:48), including those possessed with demons, who will be irresistibly drawn to Christ (Jn. 6:37) and delivered by the almighty power of the Lord.

Marriage

  In early 1986 I married Stacey.  We had known each other since our early teens and had similar spiritual journeys.  Through all these years she has shared all the struggles, heartaches and joys with me.  We have been “heirs together of the grace of life” (1 Pet. 3:7); and I have proved in my own experience the wonderful truth of Prov. 18:22 (“Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord”), for she has truly fulfilled Prov. 31:28,29.

Deliverance from Arminianism and Pentecostalism

  On our honeymoon, as we sat in a treehouse in the African bush, I read to my new wife from a book I had discovered, which helped to answer the remaining questions we had about Pentecostalism.  All the pieces of the jigsaw now came together, and we were fully delivered out of the Pentecostal movement.

In that same year of 1986, after an intensive study of the Word of God, the Lord graciously opened our eyes to the errors of Arminianism, and showed us the truth of the doctrines of sovereign grace.  As these precious biblical doctrines dawned on my mind and in my heart, I was awestruck!  The sovereignty of God; the fact that even the falling to earth of each little sparrow is divinely foreordained (Matt. 10:29); the glorious truth that the elect were ordained to eternal life from before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4); the unutterably comforting truth that once a person is in Christ, he is in Him forever (Jn. 10:28,29); all these truths, and many more, came with convicting power to my soul, and I rejoiced in them.

So although I knew the Lord had called me into the ministry of His Word as far back as 1980, it was only in 1986 that I was fully delivered from the false doctrines and practices to which I had held.  This delay was the result of an utter lack of sound teaching and the imbibing of false teaching, which as a young, untaught new convert I was simply unable to counter and refute.  This period of breaking down and building up, of casting off the false and embracing the true, of seeing through the doctrines and traditions of men, and of laying hold on the precious doctrines of God’s divinely-inspired Word, had taken some eight years, from my conversion in 1978.  Blessed be the Lord, He graciously taught me through His Word during this period.  I have proved, in my own experience, the truth of Psa.119:130: “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”  To God alone belongs all the glory!

I informed my dear friend, the pastor of the church where I was assisting, of what had happened; that I no longer believed in either Arminianism or Pentecostal errors.  It was arranged that I would explain my “new” doctrine to the advisory board of the South African Evangelistic Mission at a specially convened meeting.  I agreed to this; but when the time came I was given no opportunity to speak or to explain anything.  Instead, despite not having heard my doctrine from my own mouth, one pastor after another got up and for a period of five hours spoke against what I was teaching, and against me personally.  They questioned my stability; they implied that I was blaspheming the Holy Spirit; one even labelled me Antichrist.  And well after midnight, when the meeting broke up, I now knew what so many before me had realised through the centuries: one cannot hope for “reform from within” when it comes to religious error; one must always make a clean break, for a false religious system will never be reformed.  That which is false cannot, in fact, be reformed.  A false religious system cannot become a true Christian church.  It must only be rejected.

I was barred from ministering in the denomination, and our modest income was discontinued.  It was a severe blow and a test of our faith.  Newly married, we faced an uncertain future, humanly speaking.  But we looked by faith to the Lord, and month by month He provided our needs.

When the Lord opened my eyes to the deceptions of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, I began to speak out and preach against it.  Our bridges were burned behind us, our colours were nailed to the mast.

Once my eyes were fully opened to the truth about Arminianism and Pentecostalism, it became a part of the work of Bible Based Ministries to expose these two deceptions as well.  As I was to write at a later date in The Bible Based Ministries Newsletter: “The Roman Catholic machine is advancing, politically, through its diabolical Liberation Theology; religiously, it is advancing through, firstly, the Charismatic Movement, and secondly the Ecumenical Movement.  In all this she is satanically clever: let me explain how.  She is using the Charismatic Movement to gain the respect and trust of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Protestants, who are blinded by the phenomenon of Roman Catholics ‘speaking in tongues’, ‘healing the sick’, etc. (such ‘signs and wonders’ are not good enough; what about sound doctrine?).  I want to state here categorically: the Charismatic Movement, both Catholic and Protestant versions, is the devil’s greatest instrument in achieving Ecumenicity.  This is the union (under Rome) of all religious groups.  And, as the Protestants move under her demonic control, what do they increasingly become engaged in?  Liberation Theology, the political ‘gospel’.  How could it be otherwise?  For if Protestant groups are prepared to forsake sound doctrine in favour of a ‘unity’ based upon ‘experiences’, then they will also be prepared to forsake sound doctrine regarding salvation by faith in favour of ‘political salvation’.  Him who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

1986 was a very eventful year for us.  It was a very happy one, because of our marriage and because of our rejection of the errors we had held; but it was also a very painful one, with the loss of dear friends as a result of our rejection of Pentecostal/Charismatic error.  A note in the February 1987 issue of the newsletter gives a hint of the troubles we had passed through: “‘We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed… (2 Cor. 4:8-10).  The last few months have been full of troubles, persecutions, and spiritual warfare.  But we can truly say with Paul that we are not in despair, nor are we forsaken, nor destroyed.  The Lord has stood with us, and strengthened us, that ‘the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear’ (2 Tim. 4:17).”

An Independent Local Church Established

  In 1986 I established a small, independent, sovereign grace house church, which we named the Bible Christian Church.  South Africa is a land filled with churches, but today the vast majority of these are liberal, ecumenical, and/or political.  From the beginning we have remained separate from all these, seeking to serve the Lord without compromise, having “no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11).  The doctrines we uphold and proclaim are not those which the mass of professing “Christians” want to hear today.

Recorded Sermons and Lectures

  An important aspect of the work which began in 1986 was the cassette tape ministry.  By this means the ministry of the Word was spread abroad on a large scale; and of course, years later the tapes were converted to CDs, then to MP3s.  We thank the Lord that multiplied thousands of sermons and lectures have been distributed worldwide.

Evangelising Roman Catholics

  In 1987 I travelled with a friend to the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, a predominantly Roman Catholic country in southern Africa, to distribute Gospel tracts on street corners, in Roman Catholic seminaries, church buildings, etc.

We also began to contact priests, monks and nuns by post throughout southern Africa, sending them Gospel materials and offering them more if interested.  Some requested more; others responded with anger and hatred, such as the one who returned one of our tracts through the post with the following words scrawled across it: “May the Archangel Michael throw you deep into hell, with all you reprobates!”  Or the one who scrawled the following across our tract: “Get thee hence Satan” – with an arrow pointing to my name.  Another burnt the tract, poured the ashes into an envelope, and returned it to us!

Our Gospel materials have always been supplied free of charge to Roman Catholics and other unconverted people.  We have received reports of people being converted in various parts of the world after reading the literature.

Providing Teaching for Christians, and Exposing Romanism and False Protestantism

  Increasingly the Lord was convicting me that the work of Bible Based Ministries was to be, first and foremost, a ministry of providing teaching to Christian believers.  The exposing of the Papal system, the Great Whore, and all its harlot “daughters” was one vital aspect of the work.  In earlier times Protestants were more “biblically literate”, and acutely aware of just how antichristian Roman Catholicism is.  They knew that the Papacy was the biblical Antichrist and that the Papal system was the Great Whore of Bible prophecy; they knew the many ways in which Romanism contradicted the Word of God; they knew it was not Christian.  Huge Protestant meetings were held, at which lectures exposing Popery were given to enthusiastic crowds.

But the ecumenical movement of more recent times changed all this, as did the many long years of the infiltration of Protestantism by Jesuit agents, so that Protestants became “biblically illiterate”, ignorant about the true nature of Romanism, and – for the most part – so ensnared by Romish trappings themselves, and so ignorant even of the true Gospel of Christ, that today the work of a Bible-based Protestant ministry, in addition to exposing Romanism, also needs to be directed towards exposing the shocking state of what now passes for Protestantism.

Furthermore, the provision of biblical teaching, of “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), became an equally important aspect of my ministry.  We were finding that in this day of abounding worldliness and compromise when few sound churches are to be found, a remnant of believers throughout the world were often without any church to attend or were in small, pastorless churches, and were longing for teaching; and through our literature and the recorded messages we sought to provide this.  Our publications and recorded messages were being sent to many countries, and were being used by all kinds of people, from Africans sitting under a tree listening to a recorded sermon to people in North America, India, Europe and elsewhere.

First Book: Satan’s Seat

  In 1988 my first book, Satan’s Seat, was published.  It was written to give a concise but panoramic view of the Roman Catholic institution, from its origins in ancient Babylonian heathenism to its final destruction according to Bible prophecy.  I wrote in the introduction: “There are other materials which concentrate on one main aspect of Roman Catholicism (although these are often difficult to obtain today): its history, or its doctrines, or its origin, or something which it is doing now.  All these are most important.  But the purpose of this book is to tie the threads together…. the intention is to give a sweeping panoramic view of the whole picture.”

Over the years I have written many other books on various topics, such as the South African revolution, the Jesuits, multiculturalism, Bible prophecy, etc.

An International Distributor

  One day in 1988 in California, USA, Donald Blanton, a converted ex-Roman Catholic and one of Alberto Rivera’s co-workers, responsible for answering many of the letters which Rivera received, came across one of the Bible Based Ministries newsletters while rummaging through the post which was waiting to be answered.  He contacted me, and thus began a friendship and fellowship which led to Stacey and I making a number of trips to the United States over the years.  Donald and his wife Grace became, and remained, our international distributors for the materials of Bible Based Ministries until they both passed away in 2022.  Truly, the Lord knows the end from the beginning, and He works in mysterious but wonderful ways.

Alberto Rivera Exposed

  It was also through the contact established with Donald Blanton that the truth about Alberto Rivera was finally made known not only to myself, but to many others throughout the world.  For as he and others worked closely with Rivera and were members of his church, they saw and heard many things which deeply troubled them about the man.  The evidence continued to stack up, revealing Rivera to be nothing but a fraud and a con-man.  He was never a Jesuit priest, and his sinful lifestyle, for which he refused to repent, revealed that he was never truly converted to Christ.  In addition to many other things, he persuaded people to loan him large amounts of money which he promised to repay – but never did.  And many people who purchased his materials never received them.  It reached the point where the members of his church separated from him entirely, and provided documentation as to why they did so.  We made all this evidence available.  With hindsight, we were able to see that one of the reasons for our involvement with Rivera for a time was so that we could play a part in exposing him to the world in time.  Many came to see him for what he really was.  The vital work of exposing the Roman Catholic institution as the Great Whore of Bible prophecy does not need frauds such as Alberto Rivera, who do real harm to the cause of the Gospel.  Such men must always be exposed.

Mail Evangelism

  In 1989 we carried out large-scale mail evangelism of the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, sending in thousands of tracts through the post.  A small number contacted us after receiving the literature, seeking further help.

A Visit from the Security Police

  One day in 1989 I received a phone call from a man who wished to meet me.  When he arrived with a friend, he confessed that they were from the Security Branch of the South African Police.  Their particular speciality was monitoring religious institutions, and it was evident that they had been monitoring us for some time.  At the time the South African government was engaged in an all-out war against the Communist terrorists seeking to overthrow the state; and these men well knew that Roman Catholic seminaries and other ecclesiastical places were being used by the terrorists as “safe houses”, places where they could hide from the police.  This was often provided in exchange for sodomite favours.  The two policemen well knew the support being given to the terrorists by religious leaders preaching the heresy of “liberation theology”, and wanted to know what I knew about this diabolical doctrine.  They asked me if I could make use of any of the literature they confiscated from these radical priests.  And sure enough, some weeks later we returned home to find a book they had confiscated pushed under our door.

On a subsequent visit early the following year, they asked me if I would be willing to give a lecture on the subject of Roman Catholicism to the Security Branch.  I agreed to do so, but sadly the opportunity never came.  The writing was on the wall and those men knew it: it was just a matter of time before the government, once staunchly anti-Communist and anti-Romanist, would cave in to the demands of the terrorists.  Indeed, just a few short years later this is precisely what happened, and SA became a Marxist-controlled state.

Visit to the U.S.

  In late 1990 Stacey and I travelled to the United States for two months, where I ministered the Word of God, baptized a few people, etc.  In addition I was able to make plans for Satan’s Seat to be professionally printed in the U.S.

Our Materials

  In early 1991 the Bible Based Ministries Newsletter became the much-expanded Bible Based Ministries Magazine, containing articles of a doctrinal and practical nature, articles on Bible prophecy, historical articles, exposés of false religion in general and Roman Catholicism in particular, and current news items on Romanism and related subjects which we had always included in the newsletter.

As I wrote in a “Ministry Report” in 1995: “With thankfulness to the Lord we once again are received into the homes of our readers via this magazine.  There are some who welcome us only once, and then shut the door firmly upon us thereafter!  Others read the magazine for a while, enjoying it, until they read something in it that they don’t like, and we never hear from them again.  Then there are the few who joyfully welcome us, year after year, into their homes and hearts.  For our part, we seek to ‘sow beside all waters’ (Isa. 32:20).  If we do not say what a reader wants us to say, if we do not tickle the ears, or if we offend those who love sugar-coating but not biblical truth, however unpalatable it may at times be, we reply simply that we must give an account to God, and not to men. ‘For do I now persuade men, or God?  or do I seek to please men?  for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ’ (Gal. 1:10).  ‘Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?’ (Gal. 4:16).”

By the end of that year we also had 70 sermon titles available on cassette, with more being added all the time; we had our own book available, with another one soon to follow; we had various Gospel tracts; and we stocked a number of books by other authors.

Our First Computer

  Our first computer was donated to us in 1991.  Little did we, or anyone else in those days, imagine how computers would change our lives, opening up still new and greater avenues of service than ever before.

Another U.S. Visit

  We returned to the USA in 1991, spending some months there, where I continued to preach and teach; and it was also on this visit that our U.S. distribution centre was first cemented.

Witnessing to Priests and Nuns

  As we continued to send out our materials, not only to professing Christians but to Papists as well, we received many interesting letters.  Many were favourable, and we always rejoiced when one told of the Lord’s work in his or her heart as a result of reading the literature or listening to the sermons.  From time to time, as we continued to send Gospel tracts to priests, monks and nuns, we received angry and hate-filled responses.  On one occasion, for example, a priest of Rome sent two of our tracts back to us, with his comments scrawled all over them.  Some of these comments were:  “God bless our Pope.  The Great!  The Good!”  “Ride on to Hell!”  “You Idiot!  Try and study the Faith before you judge!”  “You are a poor fool.  Leave our Church alone!  Only fools act the way you do.”  “You turn away from your rubbish.  Poor fool!”  And this one, scrawled next to a paragraph in the tract describing Rome’s massacres of Christians: “Good”.  And people believe that Rome has changed, that it is sweet and kind today, loving the Protestants and sorry for what it did to them in the past!

A prominent Romish priest called me on the phone, branding the tracts “filth”, full of “half-truths”, etc.; but when I asked him to tell me what, precisely, was incorrect in the literature, he replied that he had never read them!

In the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, various Protestant ministries existed; but times had certainly changed.  In those pre-ecumenical days Papists were often far more violent: savage attacks by Papist mobs would frequently be made on Protestant preachers, urged on by their priests.  Riots would occur.  One just has to read the experiences of men like the nineteenth-century converted ex-priest Charles Chiniquy, among many others, to see how things were in those days.  But today Rome wears a smiling mask, advances via ecumenism, and is far more subtle in its opposition to biblical Christianity.  Every now and then, however, her true nature shines through, that steely hatred for the truth which has never left her.  Her priests may not (usually) use those old, violent methods; but many of them would certainly love to!  And where they can get away with it, they have sometimes done so.

Radio Interview in the U.S.

  In 1993 we again visited the United States, where I was interviewed on a radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about the momentous events then taking place in South Africa, and how they would affect the Christian Church.

Momentous Times: The 1994 Communist Victory in South Africa

  In the Ministry Report in the magazine after our U.S. sojourn, I wrote, “We have returned to a South Africa in the throes of a violent revolution and on the brink of a Communist takeover”.  Indeed we were just a few short months away from the 1994 election which brought the Communists to power.  Nearer the time I wrote, “In a matter of weeks now, an election will be held in South Africa which (unless the Lord is pleased to intervene) will see the Communist-controlled African National Congress come to power; and a great, prosperous, free country will be in the hands of men bent on an absolute dictatorship, and the eradication of biblical Christianity.”

In the 1980s, more than ever before, South Africa became the centre of a worldwide assault, and everywhere priests of Rome, and so-called “Protestant” ministers, were supporting the South African Communist Party and its partner, Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC).  The diabolical doctrine of liberation theology (religious Communism) was in full swing.  It became an important part of the work of Bible Based Ministries to expose the role of the Vatican, the World Council of Churches and the South African Council of Churches in supporting the Communist revolution against South Africa.  In the early years I thought that it would operate as similar Protestant ministries had operated in the past, and as such ministries were still doing in the U.S. and elsewhere in the West, combatting ecumenism, the interfaith movement, etc.  But being based in South Africa meant that there were other significant issues.  Although ecumenism, interfaith, etc., were just as prevalent in South Africa as elsewhere, churches in South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s faced an additional, diabolical heresy, one which dominated the religious arena in those decades: liberation theology.  We were living through a Marxist revolution, one which was supported by the Roman Catholic institution and various “Protestant” institutions, which justified the revolution by means of this heresy.  This false political “gospel” overshadowed almost everything else in those years.  It remains a major heresy today, with which we have to constantly contend.

South Africa was at war; and it was a war it was losing.  In 1987 I wrote in our newsletter: “South Africa is the focus of the world right now.  As in other African lands, the Roman Catholic Institution is using Liberation Theology to gain control over South Africa and her people, traditionally a nominally ‘Protestant’ country (and for that reason a target of the Vatican).  Shouting its mouth off about ‘human rights violations’ in South Africa, the greatest violator of ‘human rights’ in the history of mankind has plans of her own for this country – and Marxism is the muscle she is using to achieve her purposes.”

Today South Africa is the very Communist country for which the Vatican and the World Council of Churches worked so hard.  The world forces arrayed against South Africa were ultimately successful: in 1994 the Communist-controlled African National Congress (ANC) took power, via a rigged election and after a brutal revolution that left over 50 000 people dead.  The lead article of the April-May 1994 issue of the Bible Based Ministries Magazine was, “South Africa Now Under Communist Domination!”

The world rejoiced and viewed the ANC’s victory as a “victory for democracy”; but it was an immense tragedy.  The country went into freefall in every possible way: politically, economically, morally.  Under ANC rule, law and order collapsed: South Africa became a violent and increasingly lawless country, with the highest murder rate in the world; health care and education deteriorated rapidly; and most ominous of all for believers, there was growing intolerance towards biblical Christianity, as the ecumenical and multifaith movements were encouraged by the government, and laws were implemented which sought to make it illegal to preach the Gospel of the grace of God freely.

Publishing Pamphlets

  In 1995 we began, for the first time, to publish various articles in pamphlet form.  This was a new ministry, and has continued to prove useful ever since, as further teaching tools for Christians desiring to grow in their knowledge of the Scriptures.

TV Interview in the U.S.

  In 1996 Stacey and I were again in the United States for an extended period.  I was interviewed by a brother in Christ in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the situation facing Christians in South Africa; and these interviews were aired as four short TV programmes.

Conversion of a Pentecostal Pastor

  In 1996 the Pentecostal pastor whose assistant I had been all those years before when I was in that movement, providentially got in touch with us again after many years.  He had left the Pentecostal “ministry”, and was “examining himself, whether he was in the faith” (2 Cor. 13:5).  During the next few months we held weekly Bible studies together; and in the Lord’s time He was pleased to reveal His Son Jesus in him, saving his soul.  It was my privilege and joy to baptize him.  What a testimony to the sovereign grace of God, that a man who had been a Pentecostal pastor for many years was enabled by divine grace to see his lost condition, and to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance and faith!  We rejoiced to welcome him and his wife into membership in our local church.

A Visit to the Mormon HQ in Salt Lake City, Utah

  In 1997 we were again back in the United States.  I was again interviewed for the TV programme produced by my brother in Christ.  We also had the opportunity to visit the world headquarters of the Mormon religion, the largest cult in the world after Roman Catholicism, in Salt Lake City, Utah.  We stood on top of the 26-storey office building that is the Mormon nerve centre, from where we had a commanding view of the Mormon “holy of holies”, the temple itself, with its giant golden image of their so-called “angel Moroni” on its pinnacle.  The Mormon founder, Joseph Smith, claimed that this “angel” told him where to find golden plates which he claimed to translate as the Book of Mormon.  This book is full of utter fabrications and contradicts the Bible, and Smith was influenced by a demonic “angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14).  What hellish spiritual darkness!  As with Romanism, the dreadful spiritual plight of those within Mormonism should move all true Christians to evangelise the Mormon people whenever they come into contact with them, or when their zealous young missionaries come to their doors!

Letters to Newspapers, and an Interview

  For some time I had been writing letters to the paper whenever the Lord or His blessed Gospel was attacked, or a false “gospel” was promoted.  In late 1999 I wrote a letter in response to an article the newspaper had published by a homosexual ex-Anglican priest, who had written approvingly of a Gay and Lesbian Pride Day march through the streets of Johannesburg, and had attacked Bible-believing Christians (such things were still rare in those days).  The paper published my letter, and it stirred up “an incredible hornet’s nest” (to quote one of the editors).  For weeks afterwards, the letters column of the paper carried letter after letter on the subject, and these were only a portion of the letters actually received by the paper on the topic.  I was interviewed by the paper for an article, which provoked still further responses from the public, including one man who said he almost choked on his breakfast when he opened the paper and saw my photograph accompanying the article!

As I wrote after this in the magazine: “Wherever Paul went and preached, he caused a stir! There were often riots in the streets as wicked men, offended by the truth he preached, sought to kill him.  Read Acts 19, or Acts 13:50, 14:2, 17:13 and 21:27…. Brethren, if our message does not offend the wicked, agitate the sinful, and stir the unrighteous to anger, then we have failed to preach the truth; for the Gospel truth is always offensive to those who love sin and hate righteousness.  God’s holy law condemns the sinner, and this it must do, for the Gospel, the good news, can only be embraced once a man has first heard the bad news: that he is a lost, hell-bound sinner, and that there is no hope for his soul apart from Jesus Christ, the only Way, Truth, and Life, the only Saviour of sinners.”

Our First Daughter

  In December 1999 our daughter Bethany was born.  What a joy she was, and continued to be as she grew up.  She was a precious gift from the Lord.

Almost Arrested in Zambia

  In early 2001 I visited the country of Zambia.  For many years we had been corresponding with some professing Christian men incarcerated on death row in a maximum security prison in that country: men who were once hardened criminals, but who read the truth of the Gospel in some of our literature, which in God’s providence found its way into this prison, and professed salvation from their sins through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  A church was established in that dark place, and week by week they assembled together to listen to the taped sermons we sent them.  It had long been my desire to visit them; and in early 2001 I flew to Lusaka, Zambia, with a brother in Christ from the United States, our purpose being to attempt to see the prisoners and to deliver clothes and other items to them.  In the process we were almost arrested.

While we were still a long way from the prison buildings and were passing an open field, I had my video camera running, having no idea that we were already in the prison grounds, as there had been nothing to indicate this and our taxi driver said nothing either.  An irate prison warden came up and angrily confiscated the video cassette.  We were surrounded by a number of prison officials, and things started to get ugly very quickly (to put it mildly), not so much because of the video, which was soon forgotten, but simply because we were there.  Although we had an official permit from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the wardens said this was worthless: they insisted that a permit was necessary from the Department of Home Affairs.  This was Socialist African bureaucracy at work!

After confiscating our passports, the officer in charge told us to go and see the commissioner, to obtain permission to enter the prison.  We did so, but – possibly hoping for a bribe – he refused to grant us permission.  Back we went to the prison, where the officer in charge said that although we could not see the prisoners, we could leave the items we had brought for them – even though the commissioner had said we could not!  Every single item we had brought for the brethren in prison was carefully itemised.  By this time the wardens were very apologetic, saying it was sad that we had come such a long way and yet were denied permission to see the prisoners.  We later learned that all the items were safely delivered to the prisoners.

A Visit to Athens and Paris

  In 2002, through the generosity of brethren in Christ, I visited Athens and Paris.  It was of deep historical interest to me to see these places, as a Christian, a Bible Protestant, and a Gospel minister; and I shared my impressions in the ministry magazine when I returned.  As an important purpose of Bible Based Ministries is to expose the antichristian and idolatrous nature of the Papal religion, and to uphold biblical Protestantism (which is nothing less than biblical Christianity), there are lessons to be learned from the histories of those countries which have great relevance to true Christians as they contend for the faith against Roman Catholicism.  What follows is abridged from what I wrote after returning:

“I ‘travelled back in time’ in Athens, by visiting the ancient ruins and heathen monuments found in that city, all built centuries before the Saviour walked on earth.  How tragic that multitudes worshipped at the ornate shrines to these heathen divinities – these demons (1 Cor. 10:20) – in this ‘city wholly given to idolatry’ (Acts 17:16).  But, blessed be God, the light of the glorious Gospel came to this city!  For Paul the apostle came to Athens; he beheld the idolatry of the Athenians; and his spirit was stirred in him (Acts 17:15,16,22,23).  And ‘therefore disputed he … in the market daily with them that met with him’ (Acts 17:17).  I stood in the ruins of that very marketplace, in the valley below the Acropolis, and I imagined the apostle preaching there.

“And certain Greek philosophers encountered him there; ‘and they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus [called ‘Mars’ hill’ in v.22], saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?’ (vv.18,19).  How exciting it was for me to stand on that very hill!  In my mind’s eye I could picture the scene: there, in the very shadow of the Acropolis where the heathen gathered to worship their goddess Athena, Paul preached to them, condemning their idolatry, telling them that God dwells not in temples made with hands, and that the Godhead is not like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man’s device (vv.22-29).

“From Athens I travelled to Paris.  And there I saw a more modern example of idolatry: the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, with its idolatrous images of Mary and various Papist ‘saints’, its high altar where the blasphemy of the mass is repeated, and its grotesque gargoyles, supposedly representing the souls of people between heaven and earth – a tragic reminder of the utterly false theology of Romanism…. [Notre Dame] is as much a heathen temple as the Parthenon in Athens.

“Paris is a city full of history.  And what a history!  As I walked through the magnificent Palace of Versailles, that history was almost tangible.  The arrogant Papist kings and queens of France, the terrible French Revolution with all its bloodshed and tragedy, which changed the world forever and was a divine judgment upon the system of the Beast.  Some hours were spent in the famous Louvre, where both the artistic genius and the blindness of man are revealed: artistic genius, in that the great artists of Europe were men of such vast talents and skill; and yet their spiritual blindness shows forth so clearly, in that their works reflect their Romanism, with their paintings of Mary and the so-called ‘saints’, and their sinful attempts at depicting the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

“I thought of the terrible persecutions of Protestants which occurred in Paris – such as what is known as the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, when in the year 1572 tens of thousands of Protestant Huguenots were massacred by fanatical Papist mobs, led by their priests, so that the beautiful streets of Paris literally ran with blood.  And even today, France is in the forefront of the European Union’s persecution of Protestants via legislation and judicial interference in religious matters…. Romanism and Socialism are extremely powerful forces in that land.

“And so I returned to my own Marxist country, having seen something of the world of yesterday and the modern Europe of today, and giving thanks to the Lord that the Gospel, that same blessed message which Paul preached on Mars’ hill, is still being preached today, in a very different world, but still a world of idolatry and persecution, and a world still in desperate need of that same soul-saving message!  The idols of ancient Athens are in museums now, but modern man worships idols still: a piece of bread is adored as God; idols of a woman, called by her devotees the ‘Blessed Virgin’, are worshipped by multitudes more than ever prostrated themselves before the giant image of Athena that once stood on the Acropolis…. Times have changed, but the heart of man remains the same.”

Angry Reaction to Tract Distribution

  In 2003 we added a Gospel tract addressed to Hindus to the ones we already had for Papists and unconverted Protestants.  Our local church attempted to have 4000 of these tracts distributed in a predominantly Hindu section of our city.  We engaged the services of a distribution company to deliver them directly to each and every household.    However, only about 400 had been distributed when the company was inundated with phone calls from angry Hindus; and the company manager immediately put a stop to all further distribution.

But that was not the end of it.  In a local newspaper an article appeared, entitled “Outrage at anti-Hindu leaflet.”  The paper had interviewed various Hindus who had received the tract.  Commenting on behalf of a Hindu society, one leader said, “The remarks in the leaflet are inflammatory and do not contribute towards inter-religious harmony.”  They were not meant to!  This response was typical of the interfaith movement sweeping the world.  The president of another Hindu organisation said he was deeply insulted.  “It is unfortunate,” he said, “that once again some members of the Christian faith who are insecure with their own religion, choose to attack another religion…. One can only feel sorry for them.  However, Hindus will not take this kind of criticism lying down and unless Mr Willcock retracts his blasphemous statements, he will feel the wrath of Hindus whose religion teaches tolerance but who will not hesitate to protect their faith against unnecessary attacks.”  In addition, a police spokesman, a Hindu, said the tract went against clauses in the SA Constitution which protect religious freedom.  He added, “The leaflet appears to be the work of people who for some reason or other, believe their religion is the only authentic religion and is superior to all other religions.”

Indeed the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way, truth, and life, and no man comes to the Father but by Him, which means that the religions of the world are false and lead to hell.  But the so-called interfaith movement teaches that all religions are authentic; none is superior to any other.

Nothing further came of the Hindus’ threats.  But the interfaith position had been adopted by the SA Constitution, and thus the proclamation of the full, biblical Gospel was essentially illegal in SA.  How relevant Acts 4:29 had become to us!  “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word”.  This was our prayer.

A Website, and Ministry Across Northern Ireland

  In our magazine in early 2003 I included a piece in our Ministry Report entitled, “Brethren, pray for us!”  In it, I sought to give our readers in other parts of the world an idea of just how bad things were becoming in South Africa, and how this was impacting our lives and our ministry.  This was read by Cecil Andrews of Take Heed Ministries in Northern Ireland, and he invited me to minister to various churches there, mostly on the topic of “Contending for Christ in South Africa”.

So in late 2003 we flew to the United Kingdom, first to England and then to Northern Ireland.  While in England, thanks to the faithful labours of my brother-in-law, Mark Lamprecht, a website for Bible Based Ministries at last came into being.  It opened up new opportunities and brought the ministry to many more people than ever before.

Then we flew to Northern Ireland for what proved to be an intensive, but richly rewarding, time of ministry in that troubled country.  During the almost three-week visit, we travelled some 2000 miles by car across the country, and I preached seventeen times to an approximate total of 2000 people.  Everywhere we were warmly received.  Northern Ireland was facing a very similar situation to that which South Africa faced in the years before the Communist victory in 1994, and everywhere I preached people would come up to me afterwards and say that the parallels were striking.  It was a joy to minister God’s Word, and to be so welcomed into the hearts of Christians.  There were people who had received our materials over the years who made a special effort to attend the meetings and introduce themselves to us.  Even though I was preaching essentially the same message in every church, there were some people who attended more than once – and were happy to do so.  Many nights we returned home around midnight or even later, after hours of fellowship.

All copies of Satan’s Seat and of “Holy War” against South Africa, in which there was great interest, were sold out.  People placed orders for more copies of the books.

One of the audio recordings of the message was put on the internet, and the man who wrote the overview of the message stated: “This is a message for the world for what is happening today in South Africa will be happening in many other places tomorrow.”  One listener commented that it was a message to all believers, especially those dwelling in the make believe world of ‘Comfortable Christianity’ (take up your silver slippers and follow me?) where persecution and martyrdom only occasionally appear somewhere buried on a dusty book shelf under ‘History of the Reformation’.  Every minister and Christian believer should hear this message, especially in the west – take heed and be forewarned, providentially pricked to pray.  Every believer should be informed re: the situation in South Africa and Northern Ireland.  All the people of God should continually and fervently pray that Christ’s servants in these lands – especially Pastors – be strengthened to hold fast and preach the gospel faithfully.”

Phone Interview from the U.S.

  In early 2004 I was interviewed telephonically by a Wisconsin-based radio show, which was broadcast via the internet to an audience from across the United States and other countries.

Internet Ministry Expands

  In 2006 the decision was taken to stop issuing the magazine, and to begin issuing a much shorter newsletter instead.  This was done because the internet had greatly expanded our work, with people accessing our website from all over the world, requesting to be added to our email list.  We were sending articles to all on our list via email, and posting them to our website; and we planned to upload all our pamphlets to the website as well.  In fact, everything that had been a part of the ministry magazine up until that point would in the future be sent out by email, and uploaded to the website.  Our publications now reached people far more swiftly; we were able to publish much more, as we were not bound to space limitations, etc.; it was much cheaper; and we were able to reach a far wider readership than ever before.  Our email list grew in a matter of months to a size which it took years for our “snail mail” mailing list to reach!

Many throughout the world did not have internet access, so we continued to post the newsletter to them, and to offer our materials in printed format as well.

Our Second Daughter

  In March 2006 our second daughter, Lydia, entered the world, another precious gift from the Lord.  How thankful we were to Him for her.

Converting Tapes to CDs

  In 2008, after much labour by a friend in the United States, almost all our recorded sermons and lectures, by then numbering over 250 titles, which up until this point had only been available on cassette tapes, were converted to CDs.  Tapes were still widely used in many Third World countries, but everywhere else CDs had replaced them, so it was essential to have our messages in this format.

A Visit to Egypt and a Voyage Down the Nile

   The Lord opened the doors for Stacey and I to visit Egypt in 2008.  Bible Based Ministries seeks to expose the pagan origins of Popery, which is nothing but the modern version of the ancient Babylonian religion known as Baal worship; and as Baal worship took root and flourished in ancient Egypt and much of Popery can be traced to the rites and ceremonies practiced there so long ago, the study of ancient Egyptian idolatry is helpful in exposing Popery.  Furthermore, Bible Based Ministries defends and upholds the absolute accuracy and reliability of the Holy Scriptures, and there are so many connections between Egypt and the Bible.

We visited the astounding pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.  We also visited the Cairo Museum of Antiquities, filled with the immense treasures and wealth of ancient Egypt: gigantic statues of the great pharaohs, mummies, chariots, sarcophagi, etc.  What was most wonderful of all was to see the sarcophagus and statues of Queen Hatshepsut, who, there is solid evidence to believe, was the “pharaoh’s daughter” who found the baby Moses in the Nile and raised him as her own son. Our tour guide tried to convince us that Moses dealt with Pharaoh Ramses II, as that is the usually accepted version, but chronologically it is impossible.  As we gazed at the queen’s sarcophagus, we thought of Moses and his relationship to this strange woman who had raised him as her own son in the courts of Pharaoh.  Had he been present when his powerful foster mother had been lowered into that very sarcophagus we were looking at?  It was a tangible and somewhat tender link to Moses, the greatest character of the Old Testament.

Our voyage down the ancient, history-laden Nile was utterly fascinating and informative.  It was sobering to reflect that the watery path our ship cut through this great river immediately closed behind us, and was no more.  We left no trace, just as all the other millions of vessels that had sailed on this river for thousands of years had left no trace.  Today we were there; tomorrow we would be gone, and the Nile would not change for our having been there.  Entire empires had risen and fallen on the banks of this river.  Man thinks he is so great, so important, but “time, like an ever-rolling stream, bears all its sons away; they fly, forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day.” (Isaac Watts)

We visited the Philae Temple ruins, dedicated to the usual Egyptian “trinity” of deities (today within Popery they are still worshipped!); Kom Ombo, a temple dedicated to the crocodile god and the falcon god; the Horus Temple; the Karnak Temple, largest temple complex ever built in the world; and Luxor Temple, with its gigantic statue of Ramses and its obelisk for Queen Hatshepsut.  Just as interesting was the pool of Hatshepsut, where the queen would bathe.  Perhaps Moses visited that very pool at times.  We also visited Hatshepsut’s temple and burial place, an awe-inspiring, magnificent architectural wonder.  At Luxor we visited the famed Valley of the Kings, where many of Egypt’s pharaohs are buried, and we went into the tombs of Ramses I, II and III.

This was a trip back through time to an age when men who thought they were gods ruled the land, and the river with more history attached to it than any other on earth was the life blood of a kingdom.  Times have changed, but men’s hearts remain the same: a supposed god-king sits today in the city on seven hills!

2011: the 400th Anniversary of the King James Version

  As 2011 marked the 400th anniversary of the King James Version, the most accurate and faithful version of the Bible in English that has ever been published, and as Bible Based Ministries has always promoted the use of this version and the rejection of all modern “per-versions”, it was most appropriate that we commemorated this wonderful and momentous event in the history of Christianity.  We therefore held a Bible Protestants’ Convention in Johannesburg, South Africa.  My morning lecture was entitled To be a Bible Protestant in the 21st Century, and the afternoon lecture was Four Centuries of the Protestant Bible (1611-2011): the King James Version vs. Rome.  This was followed by a question-and-answer session which lasted for another hour.

All Pamphlets and Tracts Free on the Website

  We were now able to make all our pamphlets available for downloading and printing free of charge from our website.  These pamphlets had for many years been a means of providing Christians with concise teaching on many topics: the inspiration of Scripture, the King James Version,  the Holy Trinity, Christ’s eternal Sonship, predestination, election, the Roman Catholic institution, the Jesuits, separation from the world, Hollywood’s evil, Bible prophecy, baptism, prayer, modesty in dress, Charismatic error, Church history, parental discipline of children, contending for the faith, the use of computers, feminism, even the subject of Christian couples and contraception.

By 2012 all our Gospel tracts had also become available online.

E-Books

  In 2012, Satan’s Seat became the first of our books to be issued as an e-book, in addition to the printed version; and this was in time followed by all the others.  This was another milestone, providing yet another means for the truth to be spread.

Converting CDs to MP3s

  In 2015 Mark Lamprecht, our website administrator, began the task of systematically converting all our CD sermons and lectures into MP3s.  This was a mammoth undertaking as there were hundreds of titles, many of them consisting of a number of CDs per title.  But thanks to his faithful labours it was finally completed.

The Danger of Racial and Religious Persecution in South Africa

  Meanwhile, by 2018 our home country was truly sitting on a powder keg.

In the years since the Communist-influenced African National Congress (ANC) came to power in 1994, white (Afrikaans and English) South Africans, who are a minority in the country, were increasingly demonised almost daily, in all kinds of ways, with anti-white hatred growing by a process of gradualism.  A great many black South Africans came to believe the propaganda and to support the extermination of white South Africans in the land of their birth.

Given the fact that the world was led to believe that the ANC was a wonderful, colour-blind “liberation movement” instead of a Communist terrorist outfit, many people worldwide were, and are, brainwashed into believing the propaganda lie that South Africa under ANC (mis)government is a paradise on earth, a glorious “rainbow nation” where everyone, black and white, lives in perfect harmony, contentment and peace.  But by 2018 what was being threatened by ANC members and other black radicals was enough to send a chill of horror down every true Christian’s spine.  ANC members of parliament and ANC government officials in high positions were calling for white South Africans to be buried alive, burned alive, skinned, their children turned into garden fertilizer!  They were saying that all white people were criminals, that their property should be seized, that they should be denied jobs and treated as second-class citizens.  This is how it started in Germany before World War Two, in Rwanda before 1994, and in Zimbabwe before 2000.

In addition, a huge legal threat was facing Christians in South Africa via two pieces of proposed legislation in particular, described as two of the greatest threats to freedom of religion and freedom of speech that South Africa has ever faced.  The first was a government commission report on State regulation of religion, the purpose being to create compulsory “accredited umbrella organisations” with the authority to monitor, investigate and discipline their members, as well as to decide which religious teachings or practices would be deemed legitimate.  It was also proposed to make it compulsory for every church and every pastor to be registered/licenced in order to practice.  This would amount to outright State control if implemented.  And the second was the “Prevention and Combatting of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill”, which if passed would make certain offences “hate crimes”, criminalising almost any communication that any person or group may not like, disagree with or find offensive.

What then was life like in South Africa at this time, and what was it like as the years went by?  The country is of course spectacularly beautiful.  But the reality of life for Afrikaners, English South Africans and other minorities is one of constant concern over safety and security.  They live behind high security gates and fences.  They spend a fortune on private security companies.  Their security gates are always locked.  Many are armed at all times, for the self-defence of their families and themselves.  White farmers living on isolated farms are vulnerable targets, and are attacked and murdered in the most brutal fashion imaginable.  But whites living in the cities and towns are hardly any safer.  And even when going on holiday they have to be constantly looking over their shoulders, aware of their surroundings at all times.  No white person ever truly relaxes or lets down his guard.  Women and girls can never, ever, safely walk alone, anywhere.  Not on the beaches.  Not in the cities.  Not along the beautiful hiking trails.  Not even a stroll down the road to the local store is safe, and wise people do not let their womenfolk go alone.  Not at night, and not during the day either.

This is the most violent country in the world outside of a war zone.  In September 2018, when the government released the crime statistics for 2017/18, they made horrifying reading: 57 people murdered every day (to put this in perspective, this is the equivalent of a few entire towns being wiped off the map – every single year); 20,336 murders during the year; 18,233 attempted murders; 40,035 rapes.  Even the police minister said, “It borders close to a war zone.”  And murders, rapes, sexual offences and bank robberies all showed an increase from the previous time the stats were released.    At the time (2018) I wrote that the tension was building to the point where a single incident could set off an explosion that would be fanned into all-out war very, very easily.  A few short years later in 2021, our province erupted in an orgy of violence and destruction that in many ways was a mini-war.

The One-Week War: the 2021 Riots in South Africa

  For just over a week in July 2021, throughout the province of KwaZulu Natal (KZN) in particular, but also in the province of Gauteng, tens of thousands of blacks went on a violent rampage after former South African president Jacob Zuma was imprisoned.  The rioters looted and then burnt to the ground over 200 shopping malls and countless thousands of shops and businesses, caused vast damage to infrastructure, property and equipment, and killed well over 200 people.  Major freeways and many other roads were completely cut off, as rioters set trucks and cars alight and stoned vehicles and their occupants.  Food and fuel deliveries were brought to a standstill.  The electricity and water infrastructures were sabotaged in many cases.  The economy was devastated, with hundreds of thousands of jobs lost and multiplied billions of Rand up in smoke.  On white-owned farms across KZN over 50,000 tonnes of sugar cane were burnt to the ground by the arsonists.  At least 90 pharmacies were looted and destroyed.  In many cases entire refrigerators of insulin and other medicines were looted – including the refrigerators themselves.  Many cellphone towers were vandalised.

All this occurred in the space of just over a week, in a country with vast poverty and unemployment even before the riots, thanks to the utterly destructive economic policies of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s ruling party which was committed to a Communist and black nationalist ideology.  Even in a country where rioting is commonplace, these were the most destructive riots in South Africa’s history.

On the 12th July I sent out the following email to the Bible Based Ministries mailing list:

“This is a brief message to let you know something of what is going on right now in South Africa, and in particular the province where we live.  For some days now, riots have occurred throughout the province.  These demonstrations have been linked to the arrest of former South African president, Jacob Zuma.  He is a Zulu, and the rioters are predominantly Zulus.  However, although his arrest is certainly motivating many to go on the rampage, it is likely many others are joining the rioters because of various other grievances.  And of course there are the usual rent-a-riot mobs, opportunistically joining in for their own gain.  One thing is certain: many of the riots are very carefully planned, not merely spontaneous outbreaks.

“For days now, major freeways have been blocked by burning trucks, cars have been stoned, shopping centres have been set ablaze and looting is widespread as mobs go on the rampage.  Police officers have been attacked.  Many access roads are completely inaccessible.  Most businesses are closed down, people cannot get to work and even if they could it is just too dangerous.  There is palpable tension and fear everywhere… The police seem powerless, here and there they are trying but for the most part very little is being done, and some police officers are joining the looters.  Residents are cowering in their homes.  It is very likely the government will bring in the army at some point, but although this sounds like a great idea to many, it is actually very dangerous and could exacerbate the situation immensely.  In addition, all too predictably, there are voice messages circulating which are claiming that white South Africans (who are a small minority in the country) should be the main target of the violence as (they claim) so-called white monopoly capital controls the president.

“I am writing this email to request prayer from the Lord’s people, for us and for all Christians living here.”

Things were very dangerous and tense.  No one knew where the riots would break out next.  SA had experienced riots for many years, but nothing, absolutely nothing like this.  As believers we sought the Lord in prayer.  Our hope was in Him.  The arm of flesh would fail us.

Things deteriorated very rapidly.  As the rioting and lawlessness gained momentum, with the police clearly unwilling or unable to stop it, residents took matters into their own hands, organising residential militias, many of them armed, ready to defend lives, families and properties.  In many cases, such as in my own home town, we already had a well organised community watch group which had been conducting patrols in our town for some years, so we were well prepared to meet this chaos.

The police were grossly incompetent and unable to adequately respond.  In fact, they were so hopeless that in many cases they had to rely on the armed support of civilians, who at times even had to protect police stations and provide the police with ammunition!

By Tuesday 13th July it was a war zone in KwaZulu Natal, with armed rioters trying to get into towns to loot and attack everything and everyone in sight. Shopping centres were destroyed, and food, petrol and medicine ran out.

Protecting Family and Property: Personal Experience of the Riots

  On Monday 12th July our town’s community watch (a residents’ crime prevention organisation consisting of volunteer residents’ patrols through the town day and night) asked for volunteers to form what was essentially an armed citizens’ militia, and I signed up.  The police and army were nowhere to be seen. They had almost lost control.  It was up to the residents to defend themselves – no one would be coming to our aid.

That first night my shift lasted from 7.00 pm to midnight.  Then it was home for a few hours’ rest, out again in the early hours of Tuesday morning from 4.00 am to 8.00 am, then again from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm.  We manned the roadblocks which were set up at the two entrances to the town.  It was potentially dangerous work as in the dark it was impossible to see who the occupants of a vehicle were until the vehicle was right alongside us, and we had no idea if the cars were loaded with armed rioters who would open fire on us as we stopped them.  At times the police ordered communities to remove the barricades they had erected, even accusing them of (can you guess?) racism (!) because most of these community watch groups were mobilising in predominantly white and Indian areas.  But we knew we were on our own and had to act to protect ourselves – the police were simply not going to do it.

On Wednesday the 14th I was on duty from 2.00 am to 6.00 am, and again from 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm.  Throughout the province tens of thousands of rioting blacks looted and burnt everything they could, leaving entire towns devastated.  They tried hard to get into our town and others close by.  The tension was very great as we sat in the dark at the roadside, listening, trying to see through the darkness, with thick bush all around us.  We were continuously receiving alerts and warnings, by cellphone and two-way radio, from other groups such as ours in the nearby towns, reporting on how the rioters were trying to gain access and how they were holding them off.  The rioters particularly targeted malls, and they were desperate to break into the nearest mall to us, in a neighbouring town.  But the residents did an amazing job of keeping them at bay and prevented them from succeeding.  They held them off with guns, bats, pipes, and any other weapons they could get their hands on.  This went on day and night throughout the week.

I was on duty for quite a few hours on Thursday, went home for a couple of hours till 6.00 pm, then on again till 8.00 pm, then home to sleep till midnight, then on again from midnight till 6.00 am Friday morning.  After that I slept for just three hours, went out again a little later on Friday, then again from midnight till 6.00 am Saturday morning.  By this time all the men were exhausted.  The days were a blur of on duty/off duty, sleep, eat, go out again, and repeat.  The same pattern was followed by citizens all across the province.  Throughout these long, cold nights people from the town brought us food and coffee at all hours.  My daughter’s baked goodies were a big hit with the men!  Others brought wood for the fires we kept going all night for warmth (July is the depth of winter in South Africa).

By Friday the 16th the massive show of force by so many men of our town the previous night had frightened the rioting hordes into backing off from attacking.  Their plan was to attack the homes of whites that Thursday night, but word went out that they would be met by massive firepower from the white residents, and they backed off.

Believers know that their lives are in the Lord’s hands.  When I would return from my shift at the barricades, our family read the Scriptures and prayed for the Lord’s people throughout the land, and for law and order to be restored soon.  The prayer of the humble child of God moves the arm of Omnipotence.

On Friday evening the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, addressed the nation.  Friday!  This was many days after the violent riots began in earnest!  Incredibly, in his speech he actually said something along the lines of “already, the army is being deployed”.  Already?  It was a whole week after the riots had started in some places!  We all knew by then that no help could be expected from the police or the army.

By Monday 19th the rioters were running out of steam, they had looted and burnt everything they could, the province was in ruins, town centres had been completely gutted, and things appeared to be slowly quietening down.  Eventually we were informed that we would no longer have to sit at the roadside night and day.  We would return to our usual patrols by car.  But we remained on high alert as things were still very volatile and could flare up in a moment.  By this time thousands of soldiers had been deployed throughout the province, but this did not inspire us with any confidence, as the South African army is well known for its brutality towards citizens.

The riots provided the ANC government with the perfect opportunity (in typical Communist fashion) to blame conservative, non-ANC-supporting people for the violence – predominantly white South Africans – thereby giving the ANC yet another excuse to clamp down on the white minority.  This despite all the evidence that the rioting and looting were carried out by blacks, not whites.  The State security minister blamed what she called “right wing extremists” for much of the violence, by which she meant white South Africans.  This was a blatant lie and she knew it.

A lesson which millions of people learned, and in a most spectacular fashion, was that the ANC government was useless, incompetent, and hopelessly inadequate to meet any real emergency or threat.

Many ordinary, law-abiding citizens had been prepared for just such a situation occurring at some point, and indeed we knew it would come eventually – we just did not know exactly when.  But many, many others never took the looming threats seriously in the past.  For them, the lesson was that the ANC government had neither the will nor the ability to fulfil the very first duty of any government, the maintenance of law and order and protection of the innocent against the guilty (Rom. 13:1-7).  When it came to violent crime, citizens were on their own.  Their safety and security lay in their own hands, no one else’s.  In a time of crisis the government and the police would not be there to protect them.  It was therefore imperative for citizens to arm themselves, and to be prepared to defend their lives and their families’ lives, and their properties.

Above all, we gave thanks to the Lord for His wonderful providential preservation.  We marvelled at the Lord’s goodness to us, in preserving our lives and properties.  To Him belongs all the praise and glory.  Truly, “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.  The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that feareth him, and delivereth them” (Psa. 34:6,7).  How good He is to His people!  “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:8).  We live until our allotted time is up, and then we go to Him forever.

Grace Blanton (1959 – 2022)

  Our dear friend and sister in the Lord, Grace Blanton, passed away in January 2022, after a battle with cancer lasting for some months.  She and her husband Donald served as our U.S. distributors for many years, mailing out all our books and recorded sermons.  But due to Donald having a very demanding job with the U.S. Air Force, most of the burden for this work fell on Grace.  She was never too busy to fill an order, even though it was often very time-consuming, especially the duplication of thousands of tapes and CDs.  And when CDs gave way to MP3s, so that she no longer had to fill CD orders, she continued to fill the book orders.  Her labour of love for the Lord in carrying out this task was immense, and no words of mine could ever adequately express what a blessing she was to us, doing so much to advance the work of the Lord.

But she was so much more than a co-labourer.  She was our dear friend for over 30 years.  We all hiked, backpacked, camped, and travelled in the U.S. and South Africa.  We supported and encouraged one another, even though we were separated by many thousands of miles.  Although we miss her dearly, we have such cause for rejoicing, for Grace maintained a strong testimony for the Lord to the very end.

Donald Blanton (1960 -2022)

  A mere six months later in July, the earthly pilgrimage of our dear friend and brother in Christ, Donald R. Blanton, also came to an end after some very sudden and severe health issues.

Donald held important positions within the U.S. aerospace and defence industries.  He was raised as a Roman Catholic and then as an Arminian Baptist; but the Lord drew him to Himself by irresistible grace, and he was converted to Christ.  Being an ex-Roman Catholic he was excited when he learned of Alberto Rivera, who claimed to be an ex-Jesuit priest converted to Christ.  Donald joined Rivera’s church and worked in Rivera’s “ministry”.

In 1988 Donald made contact with me, and a deep bond and close friendship developed between us.  By God’s grace the Blantons came to see in time that Rivera was a false brother, and they, along with other members of Rivera’s church, excommunicated Rivera for his sinful conduct, including defrauding various people out of large sums of money.

In the meantime Donald had begun Contending for the Faith Ministries, the purpose of which was to distribute sound literature, especially books exposing Rome.  He began carrying my materials, and in time concentrated solely on acting as the U.S. distributor and worldwide contact for Bible Based Ministries.  He and Grace faithfully carried out this labour of love for decades.

Through the years Donald and I travelled all over California together, parts of Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada, and parts of South Africa.  We backpacked and camped in wilderness areas in both countries.  We even survived potential death together, when our car’s brakes failed on a long and winding road as we returned from Mt Whitney.  But above all we held to the same doctrines and practices.  He was a true benefactor to Bible Based Ministries, and to my family and myself; a man I could utterly rely on without hesitation.  We shall meet again, across the Jordan in the heavenly Canaan.

Extensive Flood Damage and Continual Blackouts

  In April 2022 our province was hit by extensive and devastating floods, which resulted in hundreds of lives lost and massive damage to infrastructure, etc.  Roads were almost impassable, many bridges collapsed and giant sinkholes developed. Our own home suffered damage as well, which took weeks to fully repair.

To add to the troubles, the country continued to experience daily planned power outages, lasting for hours at a time.  When the Communist ANC of Nelson Mandela took power through a massively rigged election in 1994, it inherited a First World country at the southern tip of Africa, the economic, military and political powerhouse of the continent and one of the leading countries of the world.  However, as was foretold would happen by numerous conservative, anti-Communist commentators, including myself, the ANC lost no time in destroying South Africa.  As with Communist governments the world over, the ANC leaders were not in power to improve the living conditions of the citizens. They were in power for only one purpose: to enrich themselves as fast as they could.  With faces well and truly buried in the trough, they proceeded to siphon off untold wealth into their own pockets, and in the process to destroy one government entity after another.

Crime exploded across the country, to the point where South Africa became the most violent country in the world outside of a war context. The annual murder rate was the equivalent of entire towns being wiped off the map.  But the ANC proceeded to loot all other State-owned entities, and one by one they collapsed.  South Africa became just another failed Marxist state, run by a criminal enterprise, a Marxist mafia that was bleeding it dry from every possible pore.

For years now, frequent daily, scheduled power outages have been the norm (not to mention the frequent unplanned ones), as the power utility desperately seeks to prevent the entire grid from collapsing.  This has become a very real possibility.  Often we have no power at all for 8 to 10 hours a day.  These crippling power outages are the result of the government refusing to heed the warnings which were issued years ago that aging infrastructure needed to be replaced and new power generators needed to be built.  Not only did the calls go unheeded, but the government added millions of new users to the grid; and to make matters worse the power utility’s plants are regularly sabotaged, and urgently needed money for upgrades and repairs is being stolen by people in high places to the tune of multiplied millions of Rand.  The increasingly frequent and lengthy power outages are crippling businesses and making any kind of normal working day a virtual impossibility.  Our readers can imagine what this means for us as we try to do basic daily chores, not to mention trying to run computers.

There are very real concerns that the national electricity grid could collapse entirely.  If this happens, the entire country could be in the dark for many weeks, even many months.  What is certain is that loadshedding will be with us for many years to come.   To fix this massive problem would require enormous amounts of money and expertise, and the ANC government has neither; nor does it have the will to do anything about it.  Like Communist countries everywhere, the elites are more than happy to watch their countries collapse completely, just as long as they themselves become ultra-wealthy, with homes in other countries and all their needs met.

White South Africans Under Constant Threat From the Communist Government

  In August 2022 the Equality Court declared that the slogan and the singing of the ruling ANC’s terrorist song, “Kill the Boer [Farmer]”, did not constitute “hate speech”.  This song calls for the killing of white South Africans, often referred to as “Boers” (Farmers) by black South Africans!

We certainly do not hold to the modern nonsensical definition of “hate speech”, which is a tool being used by governments to restrict freedom of speech and religion by declaring certain expressions “hate speech”.  It is not “hate speech” to tell the truth, and such speech should never be criminalised.  But speech which constitutes incitement to cause physical harm, even murder, is most certainly dangerous!  This shocking court ruling sent shock waves through the white population.  To be a white farmer in South Africa is the most dangerous occupation in the world outside of a war zone.  To be a white person in this country is to be on the receiving end of the most vicious, blatant racial hatred.

The Hate Speech Bill

  In 2022, Christians in South Africa began to face the greatest threat to their religious freedoms in the country’s history: the so-called “Hate Speech Bill”.   We know that believers in other parts of the world are also facing similar legislation.  The era of freedom of speech is on its way out in the West, as one country after another does its best to shut down this freedom, which inevitably leads to the shutting down of religious freedom as well.

Described as a “chilling piece of legislation” which “represents an immediate and severe threat to our constitutional right to religious freedom”, South Africa’s Hate Speech Bill was presented to parliament in September 2022.  Its definition of “hate speech” was extremely broad.  It listed 23 criminally actionable grounds, including sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics.  Originally a three-year prison sentence was proposed for anyone found guilty of “hate speech”, but this was later amended: if the Hate Speech Bill becomes law in South Africa, Christians could face up to eight years in prison if found guilty! And what they are planning to define as “hate speech” is so broad, and so ambiguous, that one could potentially be found guilty on all kinds of grounds.  The eight-year sentence means that Christians could be sent to prison for periods longer than rapists and some murderers spend in prison in South Africa these days!  It criminalises speech that supposedly could cause emotional, physical, social, cultural or economic harm to any individual or group, and promotes or propagates “hatred” against them.  It criminalises the distribution of “hate speech”, without sufficient protection for believers.  The concern is that it could potentially be weaponised to target, arrest, prosecute or even imprison Christians.

The deputy minister of justice made it very clear that this bill is aimed at Christian ministers in particular!  He said: “Others appear to be concerned that they or their members or supporters may be prosecuted for racist or homophobic utterances.  Certain religious institutions say the most horrific things about LGBTI persons, and then hide behind their religious convictions.  And I don’t understand homophobia from some religious denominations.  For me God is about love, so why do they want to say nasty things about those who are born a particular way?”

By saying, “For me God is about love,” he voiced his personal view.  But an individual’s own particular views should not become the law of the land.  He arrogantly claimed the right to legislate his own (faulty) concept of God as the only permissible one.  Yes, God is love, but God is also holy, just, and hates sin.  Such people always ignore these attributes of God and only talk of His “love” – as if, being a God of love, He would tolerate sin and look the other way.

And another ANC leader was quite open about what she aimed to achieve through this bill: “We are also making sure that the preachers must stay on the line.  When you preach, preach the Gospel.  Stop talking things that will be very insulting to people.”  She was dictating to preachers how they were to interpret the Gospel and what they could preach!  This was blatant State interference in religious matters.

Video Interview

  Towards the end of 2022 I was interviewed by Chris Pinto of Adullam Films in the United States.  It was a detailed interview in two parts about the Jesuits, their role in the southern African revolutions in Rhodesia and South Africa, and much more.

Conclusion

  The Lord has wonderfully met our needs.  It would take many more pages to rehearse all that the Lord has done, year by year, in providing our needs.  It would fill a small book.  Suffice it to say that He has always supplied all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  We have seen wonderful answers to prayer, and God’s faithful provision at just the right moment, time and time again.

In conclusion, the purpose of Bible Based Ministries is the same today as it has been for so many years:

1) To provide Christians with teaching from the Word of God, which: instructs them in the doctrines of the faith; exhorts them to soundness in doctrine and holiness in conduct; warns them of spiritual and physical dangers; reproves error, and rebukes sin.

2) To provide Christians with teaching, in the light of God’s Word, which: instructs them about the false doctrines, pagan origin, evil history, present activities, and future judgment of the Roman Catholic institution; instructs them about its “daughter” institutions; warns them of its plans against, and assaults upon, the Christian faith and the Christian Church, and of the various trappings of Romanism to be found even within Christian churches and the lives of true Christians; and exhorts them to separate from all such trappings, and also to take a prayerful and active interest in the evangelisation of Roman Catholics.

3) To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Roman Catholic people, and to all who are lost; to baptize converts; and to teach them to observe all that Christ commanded.

To God be all the glory!

The first edition of this pamphlet  appeared as an article in the 25th Anniversary Edition of the Bible Based Ministries Newsletter, No.110, August – October 2008; and was then expanded for the 30th Anniversary Edition, No. 120, September 2013; the 35th Anniversary Edition, No. 133, September 2018; and the 40th Anniversary Edition, No. 143, August – September 2023.  It has been very slightly edited so as to be issued in this format.

Shaun Willcock is a minister, author and researcher.  He runs Bible Based Ministries.  For other pamphlets (which may be downloaded and printed), as well as details about his books, audio messages, articles, etc., please visit the Bible Based Ministries website.  If you would like to be on Bible Based Ministries’ email list, please send your details.

Bible Based Ministries
info@biblebasedministries.co.uk
www.biblebasedministries.co.uk
This pamphlet may be copied for free distribution if it is copied in full